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Our Parish Newsletter:

Spreading the news of Christ at work in our community.

SaintSall

A Stewardship Parish

“Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jeru-salem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests,

and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, ‘God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you!’” (Matthew 16:21-22).

You duped me, O Lord. I thought that if I followed You and Your commandments with all my heart, all my soul and all my strength; attended Mass every Sunday and said my prayers every day and night, then I would live a happy life.

You duped me, God. You duped me. I never imagined in a mil-lion years that You would be crucified by us and for us. You duped me. I thought that You would have insisted on being treated like a king, or president or religious leader. Instead, You came into the world just like one of us – actually, worse than one of us – like a peasant, a common man, a nobody, a poor man.

You fooled me, God. You fooled all of us. God forbid, Lord. Can any of us blame Peter? Really. Who would not have responded

in the way Peter did to Christ’s insane and dark prediction? Who would not have recoiled to Christ’s ghastly prophecy? Like all of us, Peter suffers from original sin; that is, precon-ceived notions. We all believe that God should do what we want Him to do and be like we want Him to be. Is there any wonder why Jesus reacted in way He did? “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23).

God will not be duped.A few Saturdays ago, I officiated at a wedding. I did what I almost never do: I arrived

early to set things up. Some guests of the bride and groom were already in the chapel, min-gling with friends and family. As I walked in, I noticed a young girl sharing some pictures with her grandmother. I walked up to them and said “hello.” Immediately, the young girl’s facial expression changed from one of joy to (I don’t know what to call it) “indifference.” I got the impression she was judging me, and judging me harshly. When her grandmother asked me to give her a blessing, I eagerly agreed. I didn’t know why the request was made,

A Letter from Our Pastoral Administrator

Inside

September 2017

Dear Saints,You Make Us Brave

continued on page 3

2 Taking Powerful New Steps in the Faith: The RCIA Process at All Saints

4 Back To School

6 Amelia Mugavero Stays Rooted in Her Faith

“Let God Lead You”

7 Shifting the Traditional Classroom to Form Young Disciples

Volume 14, Issue 9

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Taking Powerful New Steps in the Faith: The RCIA Process at All Saints

Sometimes, it’s only when you stop and think back to where you’ve

been in life that you realize how far you have truly come.

“You see every little step and all the ways God worked, in the twists and the turns, pruning you,” says new parishio-ner, Paula Mitchell. “There have been so many little things like this over the course of my life.”

Born and baptized into the Presbyte-rian faith, Paula’s family became Baptist when she was a young child, and most of her formative years were spent as a member of that community.

However, Paula’s interest in the Catholic faith began when she met and married her husband, John, who had been raised in the Catholic Church. Be-ing a military family and moving around a lot, the young family didn’t feel them-selves tied to a particular denomination. But with time, found a home in the Epis-copalian faith. John was received into the Episcopalian faith, and the couple raised their children – Caroline, 21, and Thomas, 18 – in the church.

Yet, all along, God was working in Paula’s heart, drawing her closer to Himself.

“One day I turned on the Catholic Channel and started listening to different priests and speakers, and a lot of things spoke to me,” says Paula, explaining that her husband, John, who had recently gone through the Catholics Come Home program and became more active in his Catholic faith, was very supportive. “I became interested in the Catholic faith

and started exploring more. It kind of became a joke in the fam-ily – every time we got in the car, ‘Mom’s listening to the Catholic Channel again!’”

After some time, Paula de-cided to participate in the RCIA – Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults – process at All Saints which, along with preparing those who have never been baptized to receive the Sacraments of Initia-tion, is also an opportunity for Christians coming from other denomina-tions to learn about the teachings of the Catholic Church before becoming fully initiated through the Sacraments of Con-firmation and First Eucharist.

“It’s a place for them to hear the pre-sentation of the faith, ask questions, think about it, apply it to their lives, realize others are in this too, and the parish sup-ports and prays for them,” says Sr. Mary Paul Haase, our Director of RCIA.

This past summer, Paula and John, who were married in the Baptist church, had their marriage convalidated – rec-ognized and blessed – in the Catholic Church, just before Paula received the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Eucharist, becoming a fully initiated member of the Catholic Church.

“It was the most amazing experience to be able to go up there for the first time and receive Communion,” Paula says. “I went back to the pew and cried because it was just so powerful.”

For Paula, the RCIA process was a chance to learn more about the teaching

of the faith, and deepen her relation-ship with God. Now, she finds that it’s something she continues to foster in her everyday life.

“When I hear the homily, there’s always something in there for me,” she says. “I really enjoy listening to the Catholic Channel – even if it’s something that I wouldn’t normally be interested in, there’s always some information there that I could incorporate into my life and learn more. I always find that there’s some little bit more that I can learn.”

Paula also notes the blessing that it was for her husband, who was raised Catholic, to go through the process with her.

“I’d always ask my husband, ‘Why do Catholics do this?’ but he wouldn’t always know the answers,” she says. “He came with me to RCIA and as I was learning, he was learning too! When you’re raised in the faith, you can take so much for granted. I encourage people to take the time, sit in an RCIA class, take up the Catechism, listen to a radio show.”

Paula Mitchell with her husband, John, and their children, Thomas and Caroline

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If you have questions about the Catholic faith, or would like more information on the RCIA process, please contact our Director of RCIA, Sr. Mary Paul Haase, at 972-778-0326 or mhaase@allsaintsdallas.org.

You Make Us Brave continued from front cover

but I was more than happy to do it. Unfortunately, her reac-tion remained the same: indifferent.

Before I left them, I noticed a picture of two small kids on her cell phone. At first, I didn’t think much about it, but later on an idea came to my head. When she was alone, I asked her who those babies were. Without looking at me, she said, “They’re my twins.” Without hesitation, I told her, “Con-gratulations!” Her head popped up. She was surprised, almost baffled, at what I said. I continued, “It takes a brave woman to have twins. Thank you. You help us all to be braver.”

I duped her, Lord. I duped her! And I was more than happy to dupe her! When she thought she knew me, I duped her. I surprised her. And she allowed herself to be surprised.

Because I’m happy. What will make us happy in this life? When my will corresponds to the Father’s Will. This is what Christ did, and by doing so, He helped us all to be a little braver.

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Matthew 16:24-26).

Far too many of us read the headlines in the newspapers or on the Internet. Very few of us dig deeper and read the

articles. Far too many of us only scrape the surface in our numerous relationships. We must learn to dig deeper, for it is there that we find a wealth of meaning. Peter’s refusal to accept God’s Will was a good example of someone scrap-ing the surface in a relationship. He could only understand Christ’s pain and suffering, not His sacrifice and love.

Let’s not rob the Lord of His glory. Let’s not remove from our lives the profundity of His words and actions, espe-cially His unconditional love for us.

Remove all preconceived notions of God and allow Him to teach the meaning of true love.

And so now, we know why we go to Church every Sun-day, and pray every day and live by every word that comes forth from the Savior’s mouth? It isn’t to be more relaxed in our lives! It’s to be more like Him: to love as He loves and be as brave as He is.

He makes us all want to be brave, really brave.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Alfonse Nazzaro, Pastoral Administrator

Several things come to mind for Paula, when thinking of the things that were most powerful in drawing her to the full-ness of the faith in the Catholic Church.

“I appreciate the focus on loving other people, help-ing the poor and the less fortunate,” she says. “That speaks so strongly to me, because I think that’s exactly what Jesus preached and wanted us to live. I also like the fact that with the Catholic Church, we’ve had these teachings forever, and the Catholic Church doesn’t bend with the political climate. It’s hard to stand up for your faith, but I think it makes you a better Christian and it makes you stronger in your faith when

you have to be able to say, ‘This is what I believe and why I believe it.’”

Paula’s path to the Catholic faith may have had its twists and turns, but God was with her the entire way.

“It’s been a long process,” she says. “I wasn’t ready to go straight from Baptist to Catholic. But over the years, learning different things, it helped me to broaden my horizons and see things differently. So now, I can embrace the whole Catholic faith and it’s completely changed my life.”

Paula, we’re so glad to have you be part of our Church and our parish family at All Saints!

RCIATaking Powerful New Steps in the Faithcontinued from page 2

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Join us for Open House on October 25.

Join us for Open House on October 25.

Welcome Back!

Save the DateOpen House October 25th

Join us for Open House on October 25.

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Join us for Open House on October 25.

Join us for Open House on October 25.Join us for Open House on October 25.

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Amelia Mugavero Stays Rooted in Her Faith“Let God Lead You”

Amelia Mugavero has never lost sight of her connection to All Saints. After graduating

from the University of Illinois, she is happy to be back in her home state of Texas, ready to embark on a career in journalism at KTEN News in Denison. Although attending college so far from home was not in her original plans, Amelia is grateful for the incredible experiences during her time in Illinois – including performing as the featured twirler with the country’s oldest marching band and becoming the runner-up in the Miss Illinois pageant!

A parishioner at All Saints from birth – par-ents Joseph and Angelia Mugavero have been a part of our parish for over 30 years – Amelia can see God’s hand in every circumstance. She started learning the art of baton twirling at age 4, and went on to medal at national and world champion-ships. When her college search began, Amelia was looking for two things – a school not too far from home, and the opportunity to perform as a featured twirler. Unable to find a spot as a twirler at the schools she was interested in, Amelia decided to attend the University of Oklahoma for her freshman year, where she would have the chance in spring to audition again for a twirling position.

The outcome of that spring audition may not have been what she hoped for, but would pave the way for all of the blessings that would come her way over the next three years.

“I made it to the final two in the national search and, as God would have it, the other girl got [the position of twirler at Okla-homa],” Amelia recalls. “I had put all my eggs in one basket, so I was devastated. Then, literally the next day, my mom saw a Facebook post from a friend in Michigan, posting on behalf of the band director at the University of Illinois. The band was reopening their twirler position after over a decade without one. For me, the timing was perfect.”

When she looks back on the heartache she felt when her original plans fell through, Amelia realizes that God had some-thing better in mind. Two weeks before taking her final exams at Oklahoma, she traveled to Illinois to meet with the director of

the University of Illinois marching band. And that fall, Amelia made her way to the University of Il-linois as both a journalism major and the featured twirler for the Marching Illini band.

“I felt God’s presence every step of the way as He gave me that opportunity,” she says. “I was just so welcomed there and everybody was so excited that there was a baton twirler.”

It was in 2015, her second year in Illinois, that someone surprised Amelia by telling her she would make a great Miss America. After looking into the pageant process, she signed up for the regional pageant in Champaign-Urbana, Ill., and won on her first try! That year, she made the top 10 in the Miss Illinois pageant, earning scholar-ship money for college. In 2016, she returned and finished as the first runner-up to Miss Illinois. This year, she finished in the top 10 once more.

Now, as Amelia begins her career in journalism, she is thankful for the incredible experiences she had during her par-ticipation in three Miss Illinois pageants.

“It makes you do things you wouldn’t otherwise do in life – like months of interview prep and reading up on current events – and I’ve become a better interviewer and speaker because of it,” she says.

One of Amelia’s favorite engagements during those three years involved speaking to over 2,000 Girl Scouts on the steps of the Illinois capital building. In that speech, she told them about her own years in scouting and about her Girl Scout gold award, which she earned by making the stained-glass windows that grace the All Saints School cafetorium.

In all of her successes, Amelia gives credit to All Saints for grounding her in her faith life.

“All Saints School is an amazing place, and I grew so much with the teachers and the faculty that are always there for you and support you, even 15 years later!” she says. “I spent eight years of my life there and I loved every minute of walking those halls. This past year I came back to read to the kids and asked what they want to be when they grow up, and told them not to lose those dreams.”

Amelia Mugavero placed in the top 10 in the Miss Illinois pageant for three years running, finishing

as first runner-up in 2016.

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Shifting the Traditional Classroom to Form Young Disciples

Though instruction is undoubtedly an essential part of any faith formation program, it’s meant to be much

more than the mere transference of knowledge. As Coordi-nator of Junior High Youth Ministry and Faith Formation Matthew (Matt) Woyak explains, faith is ultimately about a relationship – it’s about coming to know the Person of Jesus Christ and embracing our discipleship calling.

“In a traditional classroom setting, the students are lacking knowledge and the teacher is there to confer the knowledge to them,” Matt says. “But it shouldn’t be like that in a model of disciple-ship. There wasn’t a barrier between Jesus and His disciples, even though He was teaching them.”

This is why, in recent years, Matt has opted to break away from the traditional classroom setting, using instead Bible studies, small-group discussions, and hands-on activities to help make the faith come alive for our junior high pa-rishioners. Gathering each Sunday during the school year from either 3:15-4:45 in the afternoon or from 6:15-7:30 in the evening, students in sixth through eighth grades are able to learn about what it truly means to be a disciple of Christ.

“We want our young people to understand how this truth is lived out and how it is meant to be applied to the life that they are living,” Matt says. “We want them to know what it is we believe as Catholics and why it matters. By creating a more intimate environment, the leaders are placed on a more equal footing with the students.”

Though the actual curriculum varies with each grade level, the common theme of each gathering is discipleship and sacramental preparation. In the years leading up to their Confirmation, youth are able to fully understand the faith into which they will soon be fully initiated, and what it means to devote one’s life to Christ.

Essential to this are the adult leaders themselves, who demonstrate through their sharing a real-life example the transformative power of faith.

“We want them to also see how the Catholic faith has made a difference in the actual life of the adult,” Matt says. “It’s a more relational approach. We’re not just wanting kids to simply know their faith, although that’s very important. Discipleship isn’t simply about knowledge. It’s about know-ing who Christ is and living your life for Him. That’s why

I really encourage our leaders to spend a good deal of time praying with our youth and having the youth actually pray, because prayer is how we Catholics actually develop our relationship with Christ.”

And in the process, the adult catechists can’t help be transformed themselves, as they seek to answer the often profound questions of the youth and to become that living example of Christian discipleship.

“Our catechists will say that they have learned so much through leading these small-group discus-sions,” Matt says. “It’s an opportu-nity for the adults and the youth to

deepen their faith together.”Currently, there is a great need for additional sixth and

seventh-grade catechists. If you have a love for God and a de-sire to help form our youth, please consider joining our team.

“You don’t need to have all of the answers,” Matt says. “All you need is to love Jesus, love your faith, and to want to share that with the young people.”

By creating a more relational approach, Coordinator of Junior High Youth Ministry

and Faith Formation Matthew Woyak hopes to create a discipleship model where young

people can truly learn who Christ is and embrace the call to serve Him.

To learn more about the Junior High Faith Formation program or how to get involved,

please contact Matthew Woyak at mwoyak@allsaintsdallas.org.

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